Conservation/protect the species ever constant in Florida waters. Properly so. Use it or lose it does not apply to fish.

Hogfish one of the most popular denizens of the deep. Great flavor. During season, Key West restaurants feature hogfish on their menus. Stock island has the great Hogfish restaurant. .

Hogfish numbers have been falling. The powers to be have changed limits, etc.

Recreational catch will be dropping from 5 to 1 per day. Harvest season will run from May 1, to October 31. Limit size has been increased from 12 to 16 inches.

Note that the 5-1 limit per day is for recreational fishing. What about commercial? Where I assume more hogfish are fished daily.

I was at the Custom House at 6 last night for the author’s presentation re FDR On His Houseboat: The Larooca Log 1924-1926. Big title.

The author Karen Chase. The books is FDR’s story when he spent three winters on a houseboat in the Florida keys. It being thought the warm air and waters would help FDR’s polio.

Some interesting items.

Chase 72 today. She had polio also. Ergo, her interest in FDR.

She found the Log at Hyde Park buried under some letters. It is a day by day log of the trip handwritten by FDR. Everything included. Parties as well as places.

Chase says FDR’s language is humorous and captivating. Even in personal relationships, FDR exhibited wit and a penchant for personal jokes.

FDR never walked again after being struck with polio in 1921.

John Lawrence, co-owner of the houseboat Larooca, was an old college friend of Roosevelt.

The name Larooca was created by taking Lawrence’s initials. LA. The next three letters by using the first three letters of Roosevelt. ROO. The CO at the end stands for company.

FDR and Lawrence entertained frequently on the houseboat. FDR’s wife Eleanor on the boat seldom. Their marriage had been strained when she caught FDR cheating several years earlier. She never shared the same bed with her husband again.

Hostess on the houseboat was FDR’s 26 year old secretary Missy Le Hand. Historians record Missy as FDR’s girl friend for 20 years. FDR had more than one during those years. He has been described as more Clintonese than Clinton himself.

On the last cruise in 1926, FDR, Lawrence and a crew member were fishing from a small boat. They hooked a Jewfish. A big one. If my notes are correct, 7 feet long and 5 feet wide. They had difficulty taking the fish in. The crew person even put 8 bullets in the fish’s head with a pistol. Whatever, appears a record catch.

Chart Room last night. David and John. Tourists coming in and out. Met Greg and Lisa from Sybania, Ohio. Near Toledo. Greg a retired school teacher. Lisa six months away from retirement. Their ninth trip to Key West.

Installment 16 based on Wright Langley’s Key West Rotary History.

The year 1935. Key West Rotarians were all excited. Most were planning on making the trip to Miami for a Rotary Inter-City Meeting. The Club’s slogan: All to Miami.

They never made the meeting. A few days before, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane hit. A 5. Especially bad in the mid and upper keys. Hundreds died. The upper keys portion of the Florida East Coast Railway knocked out.